16 | MAY 28 • 2020
Jews in the D
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tured projects to require one-
on-one video chats with stu-
dents to allow more individual
attention.
Bosmat Dovas, a Hebrew
teacher at FJA, has trans-
formed her coursework due
to the shift to virtual learn-
ing. Testing and assessments
have been the most difficult
and challenging obstacles for
Dovas during this time.
“The most difficult thing
for me as a foreign language
teacher is that we rely on
conversations that are heavily
based on interaction … I have
been encouraging them and
providing them with more
homework and less assess-
ments because I fear that
they will either use Google
Translate or ask others for the
answers,” Dovas said. “I now
give them personal assign-
ments so they can’
t copy off
one another and talk to them
about the honor system.”
Dovas continues to remind
her students that this is a
learning experience for every-
one. While this may be a tough
time, she remains positive
for her students and brings a
new sense of creativity to her
classroom, especially through
games.
FARBER HEBREW DAY SCHOOL
Teachers from Farber Hebrew
Day School in Southfield have
used Zoom and its features
to reach their students. Zoom
allows for the teachers to use
the “shared screen” so stu-
dents can share their work,
but also allows for small group
work through their “breakout
rooms.”
Nachshon Wyma, a robot-
ics teacher at Farber, had to
completely redesign his class.
Normally, the class involves
electronics, microprocessors,
3D printing and designing,
and building robots. Since the
transition to virtual, they have
pivoted the focus to coding
only.
The “share screen” option
on Zoom allows for the stu-
dents to share their designs
with Wyma and his volunteer
robotics mentor, Ben Forta,
and also enables the instruc-
tors to help students overcome
difficulties by pointing out
where something might be
going wrong in their code.
“We are trying to maintain
the normalcy of education in a
sea of uncertainty and change
— and this can be a positive
point of familiarity,” Wyma
said. “The basic structure of
our culture has changed, and
we need to acknowledge that,
but we’
ll get through this
together and be stronger for it
when all is said and done.”
BERKLEY HIGH SCHOOL
Berkley High School teacher
Natalie Ford currently teaches
11th grade English and AP
literature and composition.
She has been using Google
Classroom to communicate
and post assignments and
the screen recorder software
Screencastify to record short,
instructional videos and feed-
back on assignment. She has
also begun making her own
podcasts for longer discussions
to talk her students through
their reading assignments.
Ford also uses Google Meet
to host her office hours once
a week.
“I think the biggest thing
has been trying to maintain
a connection with students,”
Ford said. “This is new for all
of us so my strategy has been
to at least once a week post a
journal assignment where stu-
dents can be themselves and
write like a teenager. They can
communicate with me what is
going on in their world.”
Ford also takes the time to
respond to all her students’
journal entries and mimic hav-
ing a conversation with them.
Her goal is to take the time to
make sure her students are not
only understanding assign-
ments, but also doing OK in
general.
“What I have gathered from
their journal entries is that this
time away has allowed them
to understand themselves as
learners a little more,” Ford
said. “No one is forcing them
to do the work, so they have to
truly figure out who they are.
One student told me she used
to feel rushed in class and now
she has learned that she can do
more work when she goes at
her own pace.”
Ford’
s students have told her
that they have noticed they
have to place their phones
in different rooms to ensure
they are not distracted by
them. Other students have
also begun journaling, finding
other routines that work for
them.
In Ford’
s AP literature and
composition class, her students
were still able to take the AP
exam online. The exams have
all been adapted in some way
— Ford’
s exam only had one
essay question, and she gave
students 45 minutes to answer
the question. Students can also
choose to receive a full refund
on their money if they don’
t
want to take the online AP
exam.
“I have been telling my
students since this began that
every emotion is allowed.
Early on, especially the seniors,
many of them were writing
about how disappointed they
were surrounding everything,”
Ford said. “I just remind them
that whatever you’
re feeling is
what everyone else is feeling.
You have to move through all
the emotions. We may all be
apart from one another right
now, but we are still doing this
all together.”
Bosmat Dovas
“The basic structure of our
culture has changed, and we
need to acknowledge that,
but we’ll get through this
together and be stronger for
it when all is said and done.”
— NACHSHON WYMA